James R. Taylor
Encyclopedia
James Renwick Taylor is Professor Emeritus at the Department of Communication of the Université de Montréal
, which he founded in the early 1970s.
Drawing from research in fields such as organizational psychology (Karl E. Weick), ethnomethodology (Harold Garfinkel
, Deirdre Boden), phenomenology (Alfred Schütz
) and collective minding (Edwin Hutchins
), Taylor developed an original theory of organizational communication, suggesting that communication is the "site and surface" of organizations, rather than a phenomenon taking place within pre-existing organizations. He uses interaction and conversation analysis to understand the processes by which organizations and organizational roles emerge
and are maintained.
The line of thought initiated by James Taylor has come to be known as "The Montreal School" of organizational communication, sometimes referred to as TMS, and has been acknowledged as an original theory by such authors as Haridimos Tsoukas
, Linda Putnam, Karl E. Weick, Barbara Czarniawska
.
Université de Montréal
The Université de Montréal is a public francophone research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It comprises thirteen faculties, more than sixty departments and two affiliated schools: the École Polytechnique and HEC Montréal...
, which he founded in the early 1970s.
Drawing from research in fields such as organizational psychology (Karl E. Weick), ethnomethodology (Harold Garfinkel
Harold Garfinkel
Harold Garfinkel was a Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is known for establishing and developing ethnomethodology as a field of inquiry in sociology.-Biography:...
, Deirdre Boden), phenomenology (Alfred Schütz
Alfred Schütz
Alfred Schütz was an Austrian social scientist, whose work bridged sociological and phenomenological traditions to form a social phenomenology, and who is gradually achieving recognition as one of the foremost philosophers of social science of the [twentieth] century.-Life:Schütz was born in...
) and collective minding (Edwin Hutchins
Edwin Hutchins
Edwin Hutchins is a professor and former department head of cognitive science at the University of California, San Diego. Hutchins is one of the main developers of distributed cognition....
), Taylor developed an original theory of organizational communication, suggesting that communication is the "site and surface" of organizations, rather than a phenomenon taking place within pre-existing organizations. He uses interaction and conversation analysis to understand the processes by which organizations and organizational roles emerge
Emergence
In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence is the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions. Emergence is central to the theories of integrative levels and of complex systems....
and are maintained.
The line of thought initiated by James Taylor has come to be known as "The Montreal School" of organizational communication, sometimes referred to as TMS, and has been acknowledged as an original theory by such authors as Haridimos Tsoukas
Haridimos Tsoukas
Haridimos Tsoukas is a Greek professor of organization studies.Tsoukas holds the Columbia Shipping Company Chair of Organization and Management at the University of Cyprus, and Professor of Organization Studies at the Warwick Business School, University of Warwick. He is editor-in-chief of...
, Linda Putnam, Karl E. Weick, Barbara Czarniawska
Barbara Czarniawska
Barbara Czarniawska is an organization theorist, best known for her contributions to constructivism theory in management studies as well as storytelling and narrative analysis in anthropology of organization.At present, she holds a Research Chair in Management Studies at Gothenburg Research...
.
Selected bibliography
- Cooren, F.François CoorenFrançois Cooren, Ph.D, is a French sociologist of organisational communication and, until 2008, the editor of . He completed his Ph.D. at the of the Université de Montréal in 1996, under the supervision of James R. Taylor. He is now chairman of that same department, where he is full professor...
, J. R. Taylor, & E. J. Van Every (Eds.) (2006). Communication as organizing: Empirical and Theoretical Explorations In the dynamic of text and conversation. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. - Taylor, J. R. & E. J. Van Every (2000). The Emergent Organization: Communication as its Site and Surface. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
- Taylor, J. R. (1993). Rethinking the theory of organizational communication : how to read an organization. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing.
- Taylor, J. R. & E. J. Van Every (1993). The Vulnerable Fortress: Bureaucratic Organization and Management in the Information Age. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
- Taylor, J. R.; C. Groleau; L. Heaton & E. J. Van Every (2001). The Computerization of Work: A Communication Perspective. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.